Northeast Asia

Hong Kong is facing the possibility of a fifth Covid-19 wave in the city, with the latest virus bubble infiltrating the financial industry.

Alibaba Group Holding-backed artificial intelligence company Megvii Technology has officially filed for a Rmb6bn ($922m) listing of Chinese depository receipts on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style Star board.

China’s Tuya, an internet-of-things cloud platform provider, has kicked off the roadshow for its US listing. It is aiming to raise up to $871.8m.

In this round-up, China publishes a set of strong economic data for the first two months of the year, five Chinese telecommunications companies including Huawei Technologies are blacklisted in the US for posing a national security threat, and UBS is boosting its holding in its onshore securities joint venture to 67% from 51%.

In this round-up, Chinese premier Li Keqiang defends Beijing’s ‘above 6%’ annual GDP growth target, China’s exports soar during the first two months of the year, and the securities regulator is reportedly planning to increase scrutiny on IPOs in Shanghai’s Star market.

Law firm Linklaters has added two new partners to its Hong Kong office to strengthen its business in private equity and leveraged finance investments.

Former Olympic gymnast and billionaire entrepreneur Li Ning, founder of sportswear brand Li-Ning, has set up a blank cheque firm targeting the Chinese consumer sector.

Chinese textile company Victory City International Holdings’ financial predicament has taken a turn for the worse as it revealed previously undisclosed outstanding debt at its subsidiaries this week.

China Development Bank is planning to sell an up to Rmb20bn ($3.08bn) carbon neutrality themed green bond next week to support China’s goal of net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2060. The deal is internationally certified and will be available to Bond Connect investors.

Shaanxi Financial Asset Management Co sold its first dollar bond on Thursday to raise $200m, but the difficult market backdrop meant even the new issue premium of 10bp-15bp was not enough to entice many investors.

Chinese internet giant Baidu has met with a rapid flood of early demand for its Hong Kong secondary offering, which is expected to raise around $3bn.

The Asian Development Bank broke a decade-long absence from China’s domestic market to price a Rmb2bn ($307m) Panda bond at a record low spread this week. Its assistant treasurer told GlobalCapital that the multilateral development bank is open to selling longer dated and green renminbi-denominated deals. Addison Gong reports.